The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The Coverage We Deserve

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

mos jev — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:07:16 -0000

EXACTLY! My wife and I have an 8 month old girl and time is definitely not on our side. Every week we swear we're going to get the whole house cleaned from top to bottom. So far we're batting close to triple zeros! Still I'm optimistic that well get it together.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

seth edenbaum — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:50:53 -0000

Sorry, no. The market serves our values it does not create them.

We have an ideology in this country that defends an ideal of objectivity rather than engagement. He said/She said is the natural cheapening of argument that develops in an environment where saying anything out of the ordinary call be seen by one person or another as biased. Here is good journalism and its description: Nir Rosen in Afghanistan

It is no surprise that the military has a vetting process to determine which journalists are acceptable or appropriate. After all, the military’s job is to implement a policy and achieve whatever mission they have been assigned. That mission has a propaganda element, or an information operations element, and it is also contingent upon the support of the American public and policy makers. That mission can be undermined by journalists.

My mission is to discover unknown truths despite obstacles put in my way and often in defiance of those in power. Often our two separate missions are in conflict. This is normal and good. There should be a tension between the media and the government. We are not on the same team. But it is troubling that the Department of Defense has to hire a private public relations firm to do the job of the military’s public affairs officers for them.

Adversarialism not collaboration, is the appropriate model of the press. It has a concrete ethical obligation to dig before it has an abstract moral obligation to be "objective" This is so because as history as shown us objectivity is impossible. Discord is not respectable in this country. It needs to be.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

eric — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:04:11 -0000

See, I bet you didn't even know you were doing it wrong.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Jennifer D. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:12:18 -0000

Ha ha - you guys are funny. Okay, I admit. I came up with Uruguay first, too. I was just trying to make a point. ;-)

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Jennifer D. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:10:29 -0000

Yup, they have spent many many millions of dollars to attract and retain their little customers, who they hope will grow into lifelong users. I know it's not easy -- my daughter loved McDonald's too! It took a good six months to wean her off the stuff. It's not like I spent my evenings after I nixed fast food from our menu plan making lovingly prepared all organic dinners - far from it! - I just avoided the yellow arches.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

lebecka — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:24:57 -0000

Jeez, an Economist subscription is not _that_ expensive. For the return on your investment, it is worth much more than almost any other publication I have ever seen, unless you are talking a very narrowly focused journal of some sort. Everyone, just cancel your subscriptions to the crap like Vogue and Time, and get subscriptions to the Economist and the Atlantic (another magazine well worth the cost, even if I do say so an Atlantic blog). In a few weeks you will be much better informed than you ever have been before in your life.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

lebecka — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:18:29 -0000

My kids adore McDonalds. I let them eat it with their grandparents, who I have no control over anyway.

I agree that fast food is much easier to eat on a trip, but I have solved this problem by stopping at rest stops (possible in the summer only here in the Northeast) to make peanut butter sandwiches for my kids. With apples and saltines, this makes a belly-filling stop that can actually include some playtime as well. And it's cheaper, to boot.

Btw, even my pickiest eater will eat risotto. It's rice, for crap's sake. what kid doesn't eat rice?

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Matt in HB — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:16:11 -0000

The Utah thing threw me off for a bit. I finally came up with Uzbekistan. Seriously.

I suspect that makes me more crazy than smart.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

lebecka — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:09:05 -0000

I love to cook-- therefore it is easy and I do it every night. And I clean up as I go.

I hate hate hate to dust, vacuum, clean the bathroom, etc. If it was not for my long suffering husband, these jobs would not get done.

My husband hates hates hates to pay bills. I am very good at it. Therefore I do it. Telling him to just do it, and by the way, clean up as he goes, would simply result in unpaid, unorganized bills.

Work with what you've got.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

M.C. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:54:35 -0000

Many people want serious coverage about something, but very few people want serious coverage about everything. I mostly read the news to find out if anything really dire happened today. If nothing major blew up or caught fire, then I tune out or switch to the recipes and movie reviews. Add sports scores and financial markets for people who are into that stuff. I think this has always been the main function of news coverage -- people have never had the time or mental energy to digest complex analyses of every issue every day.

I ignore horserace coverage and the TV opinion stuff entirely, and I only read certain newspaper and blog columnists who are reliably interesting. But for people who like it, it probably belongs in with the recipes and sports scores.

Now, about that in-depth stuff, you often have to go to the specialty press. The Economist is great for general world news, especially world news with an economic focus. But if you really want to geek out on something complicated like health care or energy, you end up in the trade press rather quickly. And nobody can follow more than one or two issues this way.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

boldface — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:45:29 -0000

The horse-race stories also deepen political polarization. Most of those encourage people to pick a side and then allow them to see the "other" through a distorted lens. I like to think that if the focus came back more to what the substantive policies were, people would perceive that those on the other side of an issue aren't really evil/stupid/etc but rather have some non-absurd ideas that aren't totally crazy and maybe need to be accounted for.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:26:48 -0000

I remember back during the anthrax scares that the news anchors were basically saying "Look, go buy a paper that explains this in depth, because this is complicated and we can't do it in 8 minutes." There's a reason that The New Yorker and The Economist are niche markets...I'm not sure exactly why, though. Both are worlds above Time and Newsweek. But there doesn't seem to be a national appetite for in-depth high-quality reporting on Important Stuff.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:21:37 -0000

We eat fast food only on long road trips, considerably aided by the lack of any outlets in my town--driving to the next town is definitely more work than McDonald's is worth. But honesty compels me to admit that once my children were introduced to McD's they were enchanted. And my neighbor bemoaned that the other preschool moms invited them to McDonald's, where oh whoa her sophisticated risotto eater would never willingly consume the food....and the next time Wee Mr. Risotto was in my car he caught sight of the sign and launched into an ode to McDonald's and its many pleasures. The food is tolerable to most adults given other considerations--limited time, long trip, etc--and adored by most kids. It's a powerful combination.

This spring we were doing a drive from Boston to North Carolina in one long day, and thought we would stop for lunch at a pizza place--an extra 20 to 30 minutes, it'd be fine. 1.75 hours later we staggered out, after everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong, swearing our next stop would be along the lines of a McDonalds.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Sean Healy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:21:13 -0000

There is a market for deeply reported policy stories, but it's smaller (but richer!) than the one for Sarah Palin stories. If you want mass coverage of something like health care reform, you're going to have to settle for something around the level of "death panels! OMG!". This is true of every market: there's a niche of really top-quality stuff and then the mass market of things just above garbage level - but that everybody can afford (in terms of time and/or money).

Also fresh facts are hard and expensive for news organizations to acquire. But you know what they say about opinions...

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:12:16 -0000

An interesting point someone made about The Economist is that most of its content is readily available on the internet...if you have a couple of days to google and are good at filtering through all the stuff you didn't want.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

M.C. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:11:04 -0000

Deborah, we think alike!

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

M.C. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:09:32 -0000

Uruguay.

United States didn't even make it into my first three. United Kingdom either.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:08:58 -0000

I came up with Uganda and Uraguay, and would have hit Ukraine before I thought of United Anything. (States, Arab Emirates, etc.)

On the one hand there is certainly a strong anti-elite strain best exemplified by Palin and Joe the Plumber's fans last fall. On the other hand, ask any nerd--disdain for smarts has deep roots here. If anything I think it's gotten better over the past decades for average people, but with the left-behinders feeling increasingly isolated and angry about it.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:02:45 -0000

I think "what people watch" is a much more likely explanation than "what the evil overlords permit them to show."

But there was a change in attitude--back in the Good Night and Good Luck days news wasn't expected to make money; it was something you did to have a serious tv network, public service of a sort. Now "does it make money" is the first question.

Tangentially related, one spot blogging is really filling in is local news--if you want to grapple with how you should vote on local issues chances are your local paper, if you even have one, is reporting "Person A says this is good :) but Person B says it will be bad :(" and you need someone with a grasp of the issues filling in.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Deborah — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:58:07 -0000

Hell, I really like to cook, became an expert at 30-minute meals after my daughter was born, and I'm not identifying with the ease of quick cooking and quick cleaning. Mind, I think kids are a big part of it--by the time they're big enough that their assistance is actually useful they're big enough to have identified it as work.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

GAPeach7 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:37:05 -0000

Damn, I was thinking Uganda

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Marion Young — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:36:33 -0000

We are partially responsible for the coverage we get. Being manipulated by big business and media to accept this coverage is all part of the psychological programming we've been fed from the beginning of advertising and marketing since the beginning of time. The people behind this programming are not the workers, but the institutions, corporations...and elites.

Having bought into this capitalistic society (an experiment that failed), we work harder, have less time for creativity and thinking, require conveniences to allow for exercise and family activities, play with our "toys" (blackberries, laptops and all the programs that go with them), shop for our egos, and drive daily, endlessly to acquire and maintain this lifestyle. We are slaves to a system we have no control over, yet are programmed through our egos to believe we do.

We are consuming and working exactly as we are being directed by corporations and elites who operate this economic system. Heck, the time change has been adjusted to fit their needs (start early for business on the east coast). Who cares about our biological clocks (waking with the chickens)? Who cares that Americans have far less vacation days than Europeans? Who cares that we sleep less, are more stressed out, are more unhealthy, have more psychological problems, no time to shop for "quality, healthy" food and prepare it, and burned out so we don't think deeply enough to know we are slaves to a system making us robots and consumers for THEIR way of life.

It took me to retire from the corporate world to relax and have the time to assess where I have been while raising a family and working for the past 30 years. I have learned that our education system is part of the programming too. We are taught (home, education system, corporations, small business, government, media) to strive to earn lots of money. We are shown there are lots of goodies we can buy with this money. We are tempted at every turn to want these goodies. Materialism rules the day. The message: with money, you can have and be anything you want to be. In America, anything is possible, if you try hard enough.

We are so far removed from what is healthy and spiritual, that we believe it takes lots of money to be healthy and spiritual.

To break from the programming, we have to snap out of it and think. No, sitting at Starbucks to contemplate this issue won't do it. We are in a Depression, not a Recession. The "system" is collapsing because the elites and corporations bled us dry. People are losing jobs and homes in droves. This is causing a shift in values. What goes up, must come down, and the party of capitalism is over.

It is time for us to get involved. Demand more from the media. No more liars like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh who work for the system. Write to your politicians and demand more from them. Stay on them. Learn what these politicians are about and the lies they tell. Most, if not all, work for the corporations and elites...not "we the people."

Learn about the "monster foods" you eat. Learn what Monsanto has done to the seeds. Horrifying. Buy from local markets. Grow your own vegetables and fruits so you aren't being poisoned daily. Eat little to no meat and know how the animals are factory farmed in horrific ways. Read Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma"...it will change your life. I guarantee.

Stay home and spend the majority of your free time with family...teaching and sharing. Take time for friends. Cook all meals. Recreate more at home (games, table tennis, hoops). Make your home comfortable for you, family and guests. Keep it clean, safe, sacred. This is key...be selective with TV as you are being followed to see what your selections are. Seek truth stations (MSNBC - Olbermann, Maddow, FSTV, PBS, DIYs) that teach you to think. Avoid Fox News Network like the plague. Google "Bilderberg" "PNAC" "911". Dig deep for the truth. Spend money on your security, education, food, family...not clothes, cars and things.

Understand how religion has manipulated our lives. This is not an attack on religion. Just think about why politicians have used religion as a means to their agenda...as well as religious leaders. Christ would not buy into today's system. He would call us hypocrites. You can't buy your way to heaven.

Find a way to work from home and help your community. Get involved with your neighbors and local government. This may be difficult to do while you work for someone else, but it's a goal that will reward you and your family immensely, as well as prepare you for the next system.

Consume less. Learn to live with far less. Stick to the basics and what you need. Think through each purchase, who you are purchasing from and who those businesses support politically. Know where your dollar ends up. Support local, ethical, truly organic businesses. Try to avoid corporations and big business retailers.

Break out of the hypnotic system (matrix). The period of ME is over. We are entering the period of WE. Our current lifestyles are ruining the basic things our children and grandchildren need after we are gone: clean air, water, food, animals, shelter. Watch media coverage and advertisements with a shrewd, keen eye. Will this coverage give us our basics...help or hurt the planet? I don't think prescription drugs, prepared monster foods, fancy cars, more toys, investments (gambling), beautiful bodies and faces, lies and gold are going to cut it.

On the surface, we deserve the coverage we get. Digging deep, we deserve far, far better. It's later than you know.

http://desertgurl.com/2009/08/23/welcome.aspx

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

DougEMI — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:54:06 -0000

I completely agree, I think we get tainted by the glamourization of Woodward and Bernstein and Edward R. Murrow into thinking that everyone was so much better informed. I remember hearing that we would never have gotten into Iraq if Uncle Walter were still on the job. This overlooks that we got snowed into Vietnam under the reporting of our great elders. I hear that the consolidated M$M is the reason we don't have national health care, yet we didn't have when there was a much more regionalized and less consolidated media back in the day.

Besides ratings, there are probably more talking head shows because you have to fill an awful lot of time if you show news for 24 hours. If you want someone to watch for 3 hours a day, the shit in the first hour has to be different than the shit in the 3rd hour. It can't all be regurgitation of the news of the day and politicians making speeches. Also, maybe people don't talk to their neighbors or meet up in groups like they used to. Instead of discussing politics after work with your peers at a bar, the cable networks fill that function.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Jennifer D. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:57:33 -0000

I stopped eating fast food - and stopped feeding it to my daughter as soon as I read Fast Food Nation several years ago. I dare anyone to read that book and keep up the fast food habit. That stuff is not food.

Re: The Coverage We Deserve

Seekonk — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:11:39 -0000

The micro managing is done by reporters and editorial staff who are well aware that ownership won’t tolerate content that is inimical to its interests.